Marriage/dating scams

We receive many inquiries from people who have been defrauded for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars by Internet contacts they thought were their friends or loved ones. Internet con artists try to convince you to send them money. These schemes include lotteries, on-line dating services, offers of immigration or visa assistance, or even requests from a "friend" in trouble. In many cases, scammers troll the Internet for victims, and spend weeks or months building a relationship. Once they have gained their victims' trust, they create a false situation and ask for money.

Before you send any money,
check to see if you recognize any of the following signs that you may be a potential victim of a scam:

You only know your friend or fiancé online and may never have met in person.

Photographs of the scammer show a very attractive person, and appear to have been taken at a professional modeling agency or photo studio. If they provide you with a copy of their passport or visa, you can always contact the U.S. Embassy in the country where the passport or visa was issued to check the validity of the document.

The scammer's luck is incredibly bad - he or she is in a car crash, or arrested, or mugged, or beaten, or hospitalized. Close family members are dead or unable to assist. Sometimes the scammer claims to have a young child overseas who is ill or hospitalized.

You have sent money for visas or plane tickets, but they can't seem to make it to their destinations, citing detention by immigration officials, or other unexpected reasons that prevent them for traveling.

Beware of anyone who requests funds as a requirement to depart another country for the United States - sometimes called a Basic Travel Allowance or BTA. There is no such thing as a BTA. In other cases, your Internet friend will claim a need for a certain amount of money to travel to the United States. Again, there is no such requirement under U.S. law.

The scammer claims to have been born in the United States, but uses poor grammar and spelling indicative of a non-native English speaker.

Marriage/Dating Scams

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv receives numerous reports from U.S. citizens who have been the victims of a particular type of internet fraud in which the person has sent money to a person or an agency with the agreement that a young woman will visit the United States for the purposes of marriage or study. Often, these scams will result in requests for increasing amounts of money for various purposes, including many noted above. Once the U.S. citizen becomes suspicious, the individual or agency will cut off contact. Many of these agencies have existed for years under a variety of different names and addresses.

Even if the woman you have become acquainted with does exist and it honestly trying to visit you in the United States, it is unlikely that she will be issued a visa. The U.S. Embassy advises U.S. citizens not to send money to people or agencies who have advertised for these services over the internet. We have no authority to investigate these types of incidents and it is very unlikely that you will recover your money if it turns out you are the victim of a scam.